


Scarlet

by SailorChibi



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brainwashing, Character Death, I couldn't quite get them there all the way, I do not like wanda, M/M, Mental Torture, Mind Control, Not Wanda Friendly, PTSD, Panic Attacks, Post-Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie), Pre-Slash, Pre-WinterIron, Protective Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Hates Magic, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark has PTSD, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, and I'm guessing she did not learn to practice on volunteers, and that includes wanda, and with good reason, bucky is on a quest to kill hydra, bucky the avenging angel, but the ending is very leading, character death wanda maximoff, completely ignores civil war, he gets very protective of tony in the process, it's up to you to decide how much is wanda's influence, she did not magically learn how to use them, she obviously had a lot of practice, so please don't read if you do, sort of he's somewhere between bucky and the winter soldier, the rest of the avengers are cruel to tony, tony is not in a good headspace here, wanda has been torturing him for months, wanda is skilled with her powers for a reason ok, wanda maximoff is a hydra agent, wanda maximoff is evil, wanda takes ruthless advantage of that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 09:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11848317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: Bucky is determined to take down the remainder of Hydra now that he is no longer their power. The remaining list of Hydra agents includes Wanda Maximoff. And if he gets to protect Tony Stark along the way, that may just be a surprising bonus.





	Scarlet

**Author's Note:**

> About a month ago I basically posted on tumblr "who wants to commission me to write a thing where Bucky kills Wanda" and I had a lot of positive responses. This is that thing.

The creation and subsequent destruction of Ultron paved the way for the world to forget, or at least be sidetracked, about the Winter Soldier after the fall of SHIELD. Bucky was not ashamed to say that he took full advantage of that. 

It was pathetically easy to stay under the radar - at one point, he was pretty sure he walked right past an ex-SHIELD agent and the man didn't even notice. It also helped that, prior to Ultron, the Avengers had been just as dedicated to destroying Hydra as Bucky was. Hydra suddenly had much bigger problems than worrying about getting their Winter Soldier back under control, and it was _glorious_. He would carry the sight of Captain America slamming his shield into the face of the Winter Soldier's ex-handlers for the rest of his days.

Post-Ultron, the world was in a state of disarray. It was the optimal time to carve out a hiding place and hunker down until the winds decided which direction they were going to blow. Steve's incessant searching had been halted momentarily to deal with Ultron, giving Bucky ample opportunity to screw around with the trails Steve had been following and then disappear. So Bucky could've chosen to go anywhere he wanted to at that point, whether it was to hunt down more Hydra scum or grow a garden beside a lake in France.

Instinct, or something else he opted not to put a name to, drove him to the newly born Avengers Compound. He wasn't wholly certain why until he saw her. Well, them. All of the Avengers were sitting out front of the compound, engaging in a training session of some kind. Bucky hung back - the compound had been outfitted with various landscapes to better serve for training, and one of those landscapes was a sizeable forest that afforded easy cover - and watched, eyes narrowed, as War Machine and the Falcon went at it.

But his attention was mostly focused on her. Wanda Maximoff, codename Scarlet Witch. One of Hydra's budding best and brightest. Bucky had never met her in person (that he could remember, because he would be the last person to claim that his fuzzy, scattered memories were trustworthy) but he'd seen her from a distance once or twice: the memory of what'd been doing, what she'd _done_ , was impossible to forget. 

She cut a striking figure even amongst the other Avengers, clad in a deep red bodysuit, hair hanging freely around her shoulders, cocky smirk on her face. Red magic danced around her fingertips, though there appeared to be no target. Or at least, not one that Bucky could discern from a distance. He selected the high-grade binoculars he'd stolen from a surplus store and peered through them.

Yes. There. He could see the faint haze of red that hung in the air now, like a dissipating fog that refused to vanish entirely. Now he knew why he'd been driven to come here. So long as a dangerous Hydra operative survived, Bucky's work was not over. He could have shot her then and there, but he didn't. He preferred interrogating operatives whenever possible so that he could learn what they knew. He wanted to get Maximoff alone and carve the information out of her slowly, the way she'd carved into the minds of her victims.

He would come to regret not killing her on sight.

For the time being, he stood and watched as the training session finished. It didn't last much longer. Most of the team headed inside joking and laughing with each other. Stark and Maximoff remained outside. Bucky wasn't sure why until he saw the haze vanish and Stark came to life like a wind-up toy, looking around in confusion. Maximoff smirked at him as Stark came to the conclusion that they were alone.

"Like what you see, Stark?" she asked. It was an easy feat to read her lips, and Bucky's imagination filled in the mocking tone. His fingers tightened on his binoculars until the plastic threatened to crack. He regretted not setting up his sniper rifle now.

"What the fuck did you do?" Stark said, now pale and terrified. His hands were shaking. “I didn’t – we came out to train – none of that was real, was it?”

"Consider it a reminder of what the team really thinks of you. I can read their minds, remember?" Maximoff tapped the side of her head. "I know what is in their hearts. I know what they really want to say to you. They won't because they need your money and your status, but they _want_ to. I'm doing you a favor by passing the information along." Her eyes glittered with malice, and Bucky knew this was no favor. 

This was torture, pure and simple, and Stark was afraid of her. It was obvious in the way he backed up when she advanced towards him. 

Bucky made noise. A lot of it. As in, he deliberately tripped an alarm… because he couldn't reveal himself and show his hand this early on, but a compulsion he didn't understand drove him to protect Stark. Maximoff jerked backwards the high-pitched ringing split through the air, putting distance between her and Stark as Steve and Romanov raced outside. Immediately Maximoff's expression transformed into one of pure innocence, and she joined them as they ran towards where Bucky had been. 

Stark alone remained behind, staring at things that only he could see.

Bucky continued to monitor the compound over the next three days, but Maximoff rarely left. And when she did leave, she stuck close to Steve. Since Bucky was loathe to let Steve in particular see him (he was aware that Steve was looking for him; he’d set false trails deliberately to keep Steve guessing) he kept his distance. He couldn't see inside the compound – between Stark’s security measures and the Black Widow, there was ample risk he’d be caught – but he was at a perfect vantage point to see anyone else who left. Including Stark. 

On the third day that Bucky was there, Stark and Rhodes left the compound together. Bucky couldn't hear their conversation, and neither one was at the right angle for him to be able to read their lips.

But he didn't have to, to know that the conversation was not a kind one.

The way Stark stood there and cried after Rhodes drove away told him more than enough. 

A week after that, Stark had to return to New York. Bucky wasn't clear on why - he assumed it had something to do with Stark's company - but Romanov, Barton, Steve and Maximoff accompanied him. The Vision, Wilson and Rhodes stayed behind at the compound. Though the five Avengers weren’t aware, Bucky joined them as well. The train he took to New York wasn't nearly as fancy as a quinjet, but it would do. 

Or at least, he thought that the Avengers didn't know. That opinion quickly changed when he was sitting at an outdoor cafe just down the street from the tower, one day after arrival. No sooner had the waitress dropped off his cup of coffee than a tanned hand reached out and snitched it. Bucky raised both eyebrows as Stark sat down across from him and drank half the cup in one swoop. He felt a surge of vindictive pleasure when Stark promptly gagged.

"What the fuck is this," he said, sticking his tongue out dramatically.

"Black coffee."

Stark grimaced. "Never heard of sugar? Cream? Milk?"

"When I grew up, you were lucky to get coffee," Bucky said pleasantly. That's what he'd read, anyway. He had no real memories of what things had been like back then. For that matter, he had no real idea of what he liked or didn’t like. Everything was brand new.

"Fortunately, things aren't like that anymore." Stark ripped open a couple containers of cream and dumped them into the coffee. His hands were trembling a little, Bucky noted. He remained quiet as Stark added two packets of sugar to the coffee as well.

“I know you’ve been hovering around outside the compound,” Stark said finally. “I didn’t tell your boyfriend because I figured you needed the space if you hadn’t approached us.”

“Thank you,” Bucky said, because he could be fair. “I don’t want to see Steve yet.” The thought made his stomach ache. Steve wanted things from him that Bucky had no idea how to give, and the feelings of guilt just made the whole thing worse.

Stark just nodded. “You don’t have to hover, though. There are parts of the compound that Steve never accesses. I can get you a room if you want, if you’re not opposed to sharing the compound with us.” He smiled, but it looked wrong, and Bucky thought he probably meant ‘with me’, as though Stark was the one who Bucky did not want to be around.

“I’m doing surveillance,” he said carefully, and Stark’s hand froze in the midst of stirring the coffee.

“On who?”

“You tell me. What brought you here, Stark? What did they say or do to you?”

Stark couldn’t quite hide his flinch. “It was nothing.”

Bucky said nothing, just waited in silence. He’d discovered a long time ago that people quickly grew unnerved with silence, and would try to fill the gaps themselves. Within moments, Stark’s leg started to bounce. His hand shook as he removed the spoon and set it down on the table.

“It was Clint,” he mumbled at last. “He’s been making these jokes lately… but I don’t think they’re jokes anymore. This morning, he actually asked me if I’d sold any weapons to terrorists lately. And I think he was serious.” He looked suddenly pale in the sunlight. “I know Ultron was a mistake, but I… I would _never_ … not after…”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” Bucky said.

“I _wouldn’t_ ,” Stark gasped, wide-eyed, as though he desperately needed someone to believe that because he feared the team – his team – no longer did.

And Bucky found himself saying, “I believe you.”

Stark looked at him. “You do?”

“The witch hates you,” Bucky said bluntly. “I know what she’s capable of. It’s the only reason she’s not poisoning their minds against me, too.”

“Wanda wouldn’t…” Stark trailed off, protests unfinished.

“She would. She really hates you. I’ve seen her torturing you. What does she show you?”

Stark flinched. “I – that’s not – I-I-” He couldn’t seem to get any more words out. After a moment of stuttering, he stood up and stumbled away. It took at least ten seconds before his gait smoothed out into a stride and he regained his mask of confidence.

Bucky watched him walk away and felt no pleasure from their conversation, only an emotion that he wasn’t sure how to identify. He looked back at the coffee cup, untouched since Stark had messed around with it, and picked it up. He tasted the contents and then scowled.

Damn, that was way better than just black coffee.

It concerned him a little that Maximoff might learn of his presence from Stark. She could read minds, after all, and she’d clearly been into Stark’s brain several times already. Bucky was protected from her – Hydra, in one of their rare wise moments, had figured out that it was a bad idea for just anyone to be able to mess around with the Winter Soldier’s brain, and had done something to make him immune – but everyone else was fair game.

But either Maximoff wasn’t interested in reading Stark’s mind other than to torture him, or Stark was really good at not thinking about things too closely. Bucky suspected it was a mixture of both. He continued to tail the team, though it was more difficult in New York since they were all more prone to going their separate ways. Logically, it made the most sense to follow Stark. He was Maximoff’s main target, and there was too much risk that Barton, Romanov or Steve might notice him.

It was logical. Bucky knew that. Yet he slowly began to realize that following Stark didn’t feel like a job anymore. Stark, for all of his masks and personas, was actually a genuinely nice person. He handed out money freely to anyone who looked like they needed it. He never turned anyone away who wanted an autograph, but especially children – he was always willing to stop and take a photo with a child. He also didn’t kick Maximoff out on her ass after she pinned him in a gross alley after a press conference and started working her magic.

When Stark collapsed into a ball on the ground, whimpering, Bucky threw a lighter into the nearest dumpster. It was a perfect throw. Maximoff’s concentration was broken. She screamed upon seeing the fire and ran like the hero she wasn't, leaving Stark alone. Bucky swept in, grabbed Stark and threw him over his shoulder, and took off. They were gone before Barton, the nearest Avenger, arrived on the scene.

Bucky stopped moving after approximately twelve blocks, having found a park that was away from any eyes. He set Stark down on the grass behind a bush and crouched down beside him. Stark did not look good. His face was white, eyes dilated and tracking something that only he could see. He was thin, Bucky realized. Too thin. And he was shaking from head to toe.

“No,” Stark whispered, haunted. “P-Please… no…”

“Stark,” Bucky said. “What are you seeing?”

Stark turned in his direction, but it was obvious he wasn’t seeing Bucky. “They’re dead.”

“Who’s dead?”

“E-everyone… St-Steve… N-Natasha… they… it’s m-my f-fault…” Stark stuttered, losing the words to a flurry of sobs. Anger spread beneath Bucky’s skin like an itch he couldn’t scratch. No doubt the witch thought this was some kind of poetic justice since she believed Stark had killed her parents.

“They’re not dead,” he said, aiming for patient but coming out more abrupt. “You literally just spent twenty minutes listening to all of them trash you on live television. Don’t you remember? Natasha told the whole world that she thinks you don’t really care about civilian casualties so long as the Avengers come out looking good?”

“N-no, I c-can s-see th-them… th-they-re c-c-coming.” Stark started to gasp for breath in between sobs.

“Who’s coming?” Bucky demanded. When he didn’t get an answer, he swore in Russian and jerked his shirt open. He grabbed Stark’s hand and placed it against his bare chest so that Stark could feel his chest moving as he breathed. He had a vague memory of doing this for someone else a long time ago, but that person had been a lot smaller and blonder than Stark.

“Listen to me, Stark. Tony,” he amended when Stark flinched at the sound of his last name. “No one is dead. Maximoff is messing with your head again. If I had to take a guess, I’d say she’s pissed that announcer labeled Iron Man a hero. Just breathe with me, okay? Everyone’s safe. You’re okay.” He took a deep, exaggerated breath and was pleased when Stark did the same, though the way the air rattled out of Stark’s lungs didn’t sound good.

It was at least another full two minutes before Stark’s eyes actually focused on Bucky. He’d regained a little color, but he was still paler than he should’ve been. He sounded bewildered when he stuttered out a shaky, "B-Barnes?" 

"You need to stop going places with her," Bucky said, aiming for calm and bypassing it by a mile. 

Stark blinked once, twice, like he wasn't sure who Bucky was talking about. Then he said, "I'm tr-trying to k-keep the p-peace." His voice caught on another sob. He pulled his hand away from Bucky's chest and clasped both hands to his face, still shaking like a leaf caught in a windstorm.

"Keeping the peace is a stupid plan when she's doing your head in," Bucky snarled. From the sound of the gasped breaths, he was losing Stark again. 

He couldn't have expressed in words why he did what he did, only that hauling Stark in against him made a weird kind of sense. Stark went stiff all over for about five seconds before he melted, hands curling into Bucky's shirt, hiding his face against Bucky's collarbone. It was strange to have someone so close; Bucky's first reaction, even though he'd hauled Stark in, was to flinch away in preparation of pain. He had to force himself to ignore the kneejerk reaction and hold Stark close.

It was close to twenty minutes before Stark's breathing started to even out. Bucky found himself able to relax somewhat as his brain got over the odd feeling of being in close proximity to someone without fear of pain. And weird as it was to be offering comfort like this, it was actually kind of... nice? Nice to feel Stark's skin beneath his hands and not have them stained with blood. Nice to feel Stark's shaky breath on his collarbone. Nice to feel Stark's warmth, when usually Bucky felt cold all the time.

"It's aliens," Stark mumbled finally, voice still lacking the normal cockiness and strength.

"Aliens?"

"Coming. I flew a missile through a portal -" Stark faltered briefly, and Bucky remembered those articles. He'd been frozen during the actual Battle of New York, but after escaping from Hydra he'd been doing a lot of reading up on what he'd missed. 

Instinct made him press a hand to Stark's bare hip, underneath Stark's shirt. "What did you see?" he asked again.

Stark shivered. "Alien ships. Masses of them. Heading for Earth. And that's what she shows me again."

"Along with visions of your team dead," Bucky filled in. 

Stark flinched but nodded. "She kn-knows that it gets to me," he breathed, turning his face into Bucky's neck. "That's what she showed me before... before Ultron."

Bucky felt a renewed surge of fury. He was pretty sure he'd figured out Maximoff's game now. This would conclude with Stark losing his mind and creating another Ultron, or it would end with the team kicking Stark out. Either way, the Earth would be fucked. From what data Bucky had been able to scavenge from the Hydra buildings he'd blown to bits, something - aliens? - really was heading for Earth. Iron Man would be an invaluable contribution to that fight.

But Maximoff didn't care about that, of course. She was such a typical Hydra agent that Bucky couldn't believe that no one else could see it. All she cared about was her own personal revenge. She was after instant gratification, and fuck whatever happened to the rest of the world so long as she got to feel good about torturing Stark. What did it matter to her that she was screwing everyone else over?

He didn't know why he was surprised: Maximoff had worked for Ultron right up until she realized that Ultron was going to murder all of humanity, herself included. Only then had she switched teams to save her own ass. The only person she cared about was her brother. Bucky, frankly, was relieved that Pietro Maximoff was dead, if only because it was one less Hydra agent he had to track down and dispose of.

"Look, Stark, I'm going to kill her." Bucky didn't know why he said that. He hadn't shared that plan with anyone. "She's a Hydra agent."

"Avenger," Stark said weakly, but there was no real fight to the word.

"Only by virtue of the fact that she's got your whole team so twisted up they can't see shit," Bucky replied. "She's Hydra, through and through. I know." His mood soured as he envisioned all the reasons why he knew Maximoff was Hydra, and he pulled away from Stark.

Stark sat back on his heels and looked at Bucky. He was still pale, which threw the dark circles under his eyes into contrast, and Bucky knew now that beneath the bespoke suit he was wearing, he was far too thin. Maximoff was doing a good job of torturing him to death. 

"I can't kick her out," Stark said quietly. "The rest of the team won't let me. They're very protective of her." His face twisted with emotion, but just as quickly he smoothed his expression back out. 

"You don't need to. Just stay away from her and let me do my thing," Bucky said. "Got it?"

Stark was quiet for a moment before he nodded. "Got it."

Assured that Stark wouldn't interfere, Bucky nodded back and made his escape. But if he'd been expecting Stark to take a leave of absence from the team while Bucky took care of Maximoff, he was dead wrong. Not a week after their conversation in the park, the Avengers finished whatever business had brought them to New York and returned to the compound. 

Stark, for some unfathomable reason, went with them. Bucky thought he was being stupid - it was hard to find fault with Stark's desire to try and protect the other Avengers from Maximoff, but at the same time he was putting himself in more danger and that was something Bucky had grown to dislike - but that was Stark for you. He didn't think it was his imagination that a hell of a lot more training sessions were being held outside now that Stark knew he was there.

Four days after the team got back to the compound, that turned out to be a wise decision.

"What the hell kind of reckless move was that?" Steve roared. His voice was easily audible, even from a distance, and Bucky tensed. He didn't like the way that Steve rocked up to the Iron Man armor, shoulders straight and hands half-clenched into fists. It was too reminiscent of the stance a bully might take when trying to cow someone weaker than him, and Bucky didn't know a whole lot about Steve Rogers anymore but he knew that was bullshit.

Stark, clad in the Iron Man armor and being a total fucking moron, let the faceplate snap up and refused to back down. "It was a smart move and you know it! No one died!"

"You deliberately went against my orders!"

"And in the process, I ended up saving both Natasha and the civilians," Stark countered, planting his hands on his hips. The rest of the team that was present - Barton, Romanov and Wilson - exchanged uncomfortable looks, but apparently this wasn't a new thing because no one intervened.

"That's not the point. I need to be able to trust that you're not gonna run off half-cocked! Damnit, Tony, sometimes I wonder why I keep you on this team -"

Stark flinched. Maximoff smiled, her eyes flashing with red fire.

"- when you're just out to make yourself look good! I've had it up to here with you!" Steve took a step forward. Bucky recognized the red haze around Steve's head and went still, calculating the distance between them. Could he get there in time to interfere? Probably not. Maximoff, at the very least, would see him coming.

"Stop, Stevie," he said under his breath.

Steve, of course, could not hear him, and probably wouldn't have listened even if he could. "This is supposed to be a team. A team which follows my orders. And if you can't learn to behave, then you're not going to be a part of it."

"You can't kick me off the team," Stark snapped. "That's not your decision!"

"The hell it isn't! The Avengers are mine and I will handle them as I see fit! And if that means removing your reckless, irresponsible ass from the line-up then that's what I'm damn well going to do. I want people on my team that I can trust, not some smart-mouthed hooligan who thinks he knows better than I do."

"Sometimes I do know better! I have access to information you don't!" Stark yelled back. "You never want to listen when I offer suggestions, so you're damn right I'm going to make the best call I can!"

"Then you won't be an Avenger!" Steve bellowed, drawing his fist back. Bucky froze for a split second, astonished, because he could Steve's muscles flexing. He could see the power behind that punch. He was intimately familiar with how much damage it would do to the armor, if they were lucky, or Stark's face if they weren't. 

And out of the corner of his eye, he saw the red magic growing around Wanda's hands.

Bucky didn't even have to think. His body reacted automatically. Instead of dashing forward...

In the span of seconds, he lifted his gun, aimed and shot. 

Maximoff's head exploded as Steve's fist made impact with Stark's stomach. 

\---

"I just don't understand," Steve said for the third time, baffled.

"You're a fucking moron, that's what you don't understand," Bucky growled. Then he growled again because Stark had let out a quiet sound of pain, but this time it was in the direction of the first aid technician who was tending to Stark. The woman's hands stilled briefly before she continued, shooting a nervous look in Bucky's direction.

"But Wanda was a kid."

Bucky looked up at the ceiling in search of someone who would save him from these dumbasses. "No, Steve, she was not a child. For one thing, Maximoff was in her early twenties. She was, at most, five years younger than you. That does not make her a child. She was an adult. Just like she was an adult when she joined up with Hydra."

"She didn't know - "

"Listen to the words I am saying," Bucky snarled, grabbing Steve's face and forcing the confused blue eyes to meet him. "Maximoff has been messing around with your brain since the day you met her. She was trying to turn you all against Stark because she wanted revenge against him. She was trying to drive him off the team, and then once she succeeded, she was going to kill him. She was a _Hydra operative_. Everything you thought you knew about her was a goddamn lie. You have to see her for what she really was."

Steve frowned. "But -"

"No. No buts. I watched her torture people, Steve. I watched her drive people insane without even touching them. She would make them see their worst nightmares and then laugh when their brains broke from the strain of her magic. She didn't come into her powers magically knowing how to use them. She had plenty of practice. And it. Was. All. Voluntary."

He let go and took a step back, studying Steve's face. He could see Steve's brain working. Struggling to understand what Bucky was telling him. A glance around the room told him that the other Avengers were having the same problem. But it would take time. Maximoff had been strong, Bucky would give her that much credit. Hydra had given her a lot of training.

He was pretty sure that the effects would wear off eventually now that she was dead, but for the time being he didn't trust any of the Avengers around Stark. None of them had lifted a hand to stop Steve from punching Stark, and, had it not been for Maximoff's death, it was hard to say how badly things could've gone. All of the Avengers, especially Steve, were too quick to uncontrollable anger when it came to Stark.

Stark let out another hiss and Bucky turned on the aid, teeth bared. She squeaked in pure terror.

"Whoa there, it's fine," Stark said, holding his hands up and grimacing at the movement. It wasn't fine. Steve had broken two of his ribs and fractured three more, and that was with the armor.

"It's not fine," Bucky hissed. He almost wished that he wasn't such a good shot. He would've gladly killed Maximoff a second time.

"Barnes is right," Natasha said, though she looked like she wasn't sure why. She addressed Bucky. "Are you sticking around?"

"Yes," Bucky said, amazed she had to ask. He crossed his arms and hovered protectively over Stark as, one by one, the rest of the dazed-looking team filed past Stark and out of the room. None of them looked at him, and in turn Stark looked increasingly like a kicked puppy.

Steve was the last to go. He paused in front of Stark and rubbed the back of his neck. "Did I punch you?" he asked, sounding very lost.

"Yes," Stark said.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine, Steve," Stark said with a sigh. "Don't worry about it."

Steve hesitated but nodded. "Okay. Were we fighting?"

"No. We're fine. Go ahead."

Still looking confused, Steve finally walked out.

"You didn't need to kill her," Stark said when they were alone, but it was half-hearted at best.

"I should have killed her a long time ago," Bucky snapped. 

"She -"

"I told you before that she was a Hydra operative. Believe me, Tony, I know what she was capable of. I saw it."

Stark blinked. "You called me Tony."

"I guess I did," Bucky allowed. He'd shot a woman to save Stark's - Tony's life. It was probably time. 

"Thanks?" Tony said, making it sound like a question. 

"You can thank me by going to bed and resting."

Tony groaned. "Oh god. You're going to be a worse motherhen than Steve."

Bucky smiled, very pleasantly. "Where do you think the punk learned it from?" It took a little more cajoling before Tony agreed to retire, and even then Bucky had to follow him right into his bedroom to make sure that he did as he was told. And then Tony was adamant that Bucky wasn't going to keep watch by sleeping on the floor, so he ended up laying down beside Tony in the bed.

It was an enormous bed, so there was plenty of space for both of them. Bucky stared up at the ceiling, trying to remember the last time he'd actually been in bed. Was it eight months ago in Berlin? No. Maybe it was ten months ago in Venezuela - except no, he'd stumbled across an underground Hydra operation before he actually got to his hotel room. Maybe it was - 

"Thanks."

At the sound of Tony's voice, Bucky blinked and turned his head. Tony was also laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling. Bucky said, "Don't thank me. I'm going to take Hydra down piece by piece. It had nothing to do with you."

"I already figured that," Tony said, sounding very tired. "But thanks anyway. Maybe now I can actually sleep for more than an hour without having a nightmare." He rubbed a hand over his face. "I'll help you."

"What?"

"With Hydra. I'll help you tear them apart. It's the least I can do."

Bucky thought about it. He'd originally been determined to do it alone, because there was something poetic about Hydra's greatest weapon being the one to slaughter them all. But he could see the value in Tony's offer. At any rate, finding the remaining bases would probably be a hell of a lot easier with the kind of equipment that Tony had access to.

"Sure," he said after a moment.

"Really?" Tony looked surprised.

"Yes, really. I want those assholes dead. We can start after you sleep."

"After _we_ sleep," Tony countered. "Freakish supersoldier abilities or not, you still need sleep."

"Doors locked?"

"Yeah. FRIDAY's watching. She always is. Wanda didn't know enough about computers or circuitry to mess with her, not with Vision around."

Bucky nodded absently, certain that none of the Avengers would try anything tonight anyway. He'd observed people who were shaking off the effects of Maximoff's magic before, and it had always taken them a few days to get back to some semblance of normality. If the Avengers weren't falling all over themselves to apologize by then, Bucky decided that he and Tony would return to the New York tower.

"Fine," he said, flipping over onto his side so that his back was to Tony. 

"Fine the assassin says," Tony muttered, probably thinking that Bucky couldn't hear him. The bed shifted as Tony rolled over too. Seconds later, he scooted backwards so that his back was aligned with Bucky's. 

The room darkened as the sun went down. Tony's breathing eventually deepened as he fell asleep. Bucky laid awake, one hand on his gun, and watched.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


End file.
